Bitdefender Total Security 2019 Review

Pros:

Accurate malware blocking

Reliable spam filter feature

Multi-layered anti-ransomware

Intelligent firewall

Cons:

Ransomware cleanup issues

Lack of bonus tools

No 24/7 customer support feature

Bitdefender Total Security comes with its very own Hotspot Shield-powered Bitdefender VPN, which gives you 200 MB worth of data allowance per device a day in the free edition. However, this can be a little tedious given that it is a small amount of data and can only be utilized for very light browsing and emailing, not heavy downloading. We cannot pass a verdict on this security suite until we have done some recon on all it has to offer you.

Privacy is a pretty tricky matter lately, mostly due to the lack of it in the technology-dominated world we live in. however, security suites such as Bitdefender Total Security 2019 make living in this world a little bit bearable with the help of security it provides for iOS, Mac and Android devices that you use.

Pro Tip: Bitdefender is currently offering all users a 60% discount on its Antivirus Plus which brings its price down to a whopping $35.99 for 12 months, which can simultaneously be used for five devices at a time.

Pricing

The 2019 update of Bitdefender Total Security which just launched comes with new features for the same price points. Bitdefender Total Security 2019 will charge you $45 for the first year and give you five simultaneous connections, and upon renewal, you will have to pay $91. If you wish to add more devices to your package, that just sweetens the deal for you even further.

If you purchase a 3-year package for 10 simultaneous devices at a time, you will be charged $175 for the first year and $234 upon renewal. We do understand that these packages may seem a bit pricier than most but for the features Bitdefender offers you, the pricing is justified.

For those of you unsure about purchasing a subscription, Bitdefender does come with a 30-day money back guarantee in its free trial build. The process is pretty straightforward. Many people believe that free-trials don’t have as many features available as they should, but that is not the case with Bitdefender Total Security 2019. You get a good taste of the real thing in the free trial.

Setup and Installation

Bitdefender gives you the option to sign up for a free account before asking you to sign up for a paid one. All you need to do is give out your email address. The free trial isn’t as restricted as you would assume it to be since it allows you to view your device’s security status online through Bitdefender’s web console, which is a free feature you get. Creating an account and downloading Total Security is fairly simple. After that, you need to install the software and add the necessary browser extensions to your device, all of which goes very smoothly.

Interface

When you launch the client, it gives you a brief tour of the user interface to get you acquainted with all the features at your disposal. Though experienced users might not need this, it can prove to be quite handy for first time Bitdefender users.

The interface is designed in a simple way to help you understand all the functions and have speedy access to them. The Quick Scan feature and VPN feature is just a click away from you. On the left of the interface, are options regarding Protection, Privacy and Utilities. When you tap on these options, you can find what functions they contain within them. Even if you lose your way, the easily named functions will help you find your way back.

Protection Features

Bitdefender Total Security 2019 has really outdone itself with all the features it has introduced. The Quick Scan alone is well-equipped to check the most infected areas of your device, however, the System Scan goes in for the kill by scanning everything. You can even enable the File Explorer integration of them through the right-hand menu of the Explorer. Here is a brief description of all the highlighted protection features of Bitdefender Total Security 2019.

Spam Filter: Automatically added to Outlook, this feature fishes through your emails and creates its own spam filter based on blacklists and whitelists.

Vulnerability Scans: This scan checks your entire system including all the updates and patches, windows account passwords and even simple network issues you might have.

Webcam Protection: This feature allows you to limit your webcam access to certain applications and block them off if they are persistent. If an application is connected to your webcam without your consent, Bitdefender Total Security 2019 will immediately notify you and block access based on your consent.

SafePay: Bitdefender’s SafePay is a perfect feature for people who use the internet for online transactions, purchasing and selling. This feature blocks other applications from storing your sensitive data such as your bank information, phone number, address, birth date, application license keys and much more.

File Vault: This feature stores all of your important information in one place so you never lose it. You can even utilize it to store important pictures and videos if you like.

Wallet: This is a password manager that safely keeps all of your website login information for future use.

Website Security

Bitdefender doesn’t leave you high and dry when it comes to website security. When you are browsing online on websites such as Google, Bitdefender checks every link against its very own database of potentially malicious websites and analyzes whether or not it is safe for you to access them.

If the website is safe, a green checkmark appears against it so you know you are good to go. If the website is not safe, a yellow warning label in the shape of an exclamation mark will appear to warn you against the website you are about to visit. Bitdefender Total Security also checks major social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to see if the websites you are trying to visit are authentic and safe or not.

Performance

AV-Comparatives’ Feb-Jun 2018 Real World Protection report compiled the results of five separate tests, according to which, Bitdefender Total Security performed quite well for itself. It was successful in blocking 99.8% of all threats which was a stark 1078 out of 1080 threats. How impressive is that! That placed Bitdefender on the 18th overall protection place, right behind F-Secure and Trend Micro.

AV-Test’s April 2018 results for Windows 10 showed even better threat detection results than before, by blocking 100 percent of the total threats in the test.

When we ran our own tests on Bitdefender’s malicious website filtering, we were pleasantly surprised as Bitdefender blocked 84% of all the URLs we tried to access. Though this is a tricky place to analyze a software’s reliability, this is an important factor that cannot be ignored in terms of performance.

Customer Support

Bitdefender has always made a name for itself in the market when it comes to customer support, however recently, it has lagged behind a little bit. First, let us discuss all the customer support features offered. Whenever the customer support is presented with a query, they always seem eager to help through phone calls, email and live chat. Bitdefender even has a forum for all of its users where questions and answers are posted and users can converse with one another to find a better fix to their problems. This forum is quite regularly updated. However, the problem begins when it comes to the duration of customer support.

Unlike most security suites out there, Bitdefender does not provide round the clock customer support to its users. So if a user has a problem with his software during offline hours, he will have no choice but to send in a query and wait for a response, however long that may be. Given that most of the users may be newcomers who don’t know their way around the software, this is not the most convenient software solution.

Verdict

Bitdefender does very well in the face of malicious threats. It performed very well in all the tests that we ran against it. Bitdefender Total Security 2019’s interface is easy to understand for all first-time users. Though this privacy suite is a bit towards the pricier end of the spectrum, it makes up for it with the features it comes coupled with. The only flaw with this security suite would have to be with the customer support.

Unlike most antivirus suites out there, Bitdefender does not offer its users 24/7 customer support. This can become quite problematic for first-time users which is why in the customer support department, Bitdefender did not score as well as it could have. But we have high hopes that in the future updates, Bitdefender will rectify this problem.

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Hudson is currently an editor at Hudson Rhine. She also holds a degree in Computer Science from Bridgewater College. She loves to write about software and tech shaping the future. She lives in Virginia with her parents.